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Four Videos of John Coltrane
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
While writing yesterday, I listened to a few hours of John Coltrane in the early '60s. Absorbing Coltrane through the ears is one experience. Watching him play in a video is quite another. Seeing tenor and soprano saxophonist play the music you're hearing is astonishing, not to mention the cool intensity of his sidemen. The experience is like watching a great athlete train hard or a great painter at work. Here are four videos of John Coltrane, arguable the last ...
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Jennie Smith: The TV Sound
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
I never bought into the story about singer Jennie Smith and her backstage attempt to let Steve Allen have it with a pair of scissors. The word was that she and Steve were romantically involved while he was married to his second wife, Jayne Meadows, and that scorn led her to try and stab him. There are only two references to the spurious story online (both unsubstantiated), and I could find no mention of the attack in the database of ...
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Tubby Hayes: Lost Fontana Tapes
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Tubby Hayes was busy in 1969. In addition to touring and being recorded on the road, the tenor saxophonist turned out several studio albums and BBC performances. His playing was uniformly excellent across the dates. His live and studio recordings in 1969 were Rumpus with his big band (live at London's Torrington Pub on May 8), The Orchestra (a Fontana studio date on May 28), an appearance as a sideman on a track with the Harry South Big Band (on ...
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StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Jazz documentary film festival, part 3
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St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
As we head into the dog days of summer, things still are relatively quiet on the touring-acts-coming-to-St. Louis-soon front, and so this week, StLJN offers a third installment of this year's online mini-festival of documentary films of interest to jazz fans. First up via the video embed above is Earl “Fatha" Hines, a documentary about the pianist made in 1975 for Britain's ITV television channel. Filmed mostly after hours at the Blues Alley nightclub in Washington DC, it was described ...
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Five Videos: Live in 1973
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
The year 1973 was an strange one. The Vietnam war raged on, the Watergate hearings were in full swing, the Roe v. Wade decision was handed down by the Supreme Court, the World Trade Center opened in New York, the oil crisis began as cars waited overnight in lines to fill up at gas stations, along with lots of other odd and momentous news events. Many people retreated into music as the price of stereo-system component packages (turntables, receivers, speakers, ...
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Duduka Da Fonseca: Tom Jobim
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Duduka Da Fonseca plays drums with a stirring, sensuality. It's like listening to crushed ice melt at the beach. His last album in 2018 was a loving tribute to Brazilian samba-funk pianist Dom Salvador, who I believe is still playing regularly at New York's River Café at age 81. Duduka's latest album is Samba Jazz & Tom Jobim (Sunnyside), with pianist Helio Alves and vocalist Maucha Adnet. Born in Brazil, Alves is a pianist and composer who now lives in ...
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Cannonball Adderley: EmArcy #1
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Born in Tampa, Fla., and raised in Tallahassee, alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderley studied music at Florida A&M before becoming the band director at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale. In 1955, Adderley moved to New York to explore studying at graduate-level music schools. He was joined by his brother, trumpeter and cornetist Nat Adderley, who had been on tour with Lionel Hampton. As the story goes, the Adderley brothers brought their instruments to the Café Bohemia at 15 Barrow Street ...
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Fabulous Dorsey Brothers in Hi-Fi
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
When trombonist and bandleader Tommy Dorsey died in November 1956 at his 23-room mansion in Greenwich, Ct., his financial affairs were a mess. Married to his third wife, Janie New, Dorsey passed away several days shy of a court appearance to reply to New's divorce suit. According to the autopsy, Dorsey, 51, had thrown up while he slept, and food lodged in his windpipe and lungs. For whatever reason, Dorsey did not have a will, and he reportedly left only ...
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